Re: If the moon exploded, what would happen to earth/solar system?

You raise an interesting question on many levels. There are two parts to your question

1. Blowing up the moon, (is that reasonable?) and

2. The subsequent effect it would have on earth.

First blowing up the moon. Our moon is about 1.2% the size of earth and about 27% the mass. That makes it fairly big relative to the earth, and uncommon in our solar system in that regard. There is growing interest in finding ways to deflect and destroy small asteroids. The moon is thousands of times bigger. From the science perspective---the techology to do this would be staggering. But in science fiction, all is possible.

[One might also want to consult this previous MadSci question.]

So that brings the heart of your question, what about the effects on earth. There would undoubtably be effects felt on the earth. The moon provides a gravitational tug on our oceans, which produces the tides. These tides effect much ocean life in the shallow, coastal waters. There would still be tides, however. The tidal forces due to the sun are weaker (~46% I believe) than those due to the moon, though still significant. This is because the moon is much closer. So without the moon, the tides would be much smaller and coastal sea life would surely be impacted. Corals and other sea life which rely on tidal forces to bring food would suffer. Other sea creatures which feed on/in the coral reefs would likewise be effected. Also other species could feel the effect. For example sea turtles come ashore to nest most often at high tide.

Would any of this be catastrophic to humanity and life on the earth. Assuming that your explosion that takes out the moon doesn't damage the earth---either directly from the explosion or indirectly from debris blown off the moon that showers the earth---then the earth should be Ok. Life would be impacted for sure, but it would not likely bring a catastrophic end to humanity.

[Note that the Earth or other planets being hit by debris from this hypothetical explosion would themselves be relatively unaffected. Planets are relatively large, certainly compared to any debris that might be generated from this hypothetical explosion. The Earth has been, and will be in the future, hit by large chunks of debris in the solar system. The most recent, spectacular example of a planet getting hit by solar system debris is the impact of the comet Shoemaker/Levy-9 on Jupiter. Moderator]